The brothers duo of Zachery Lowe and Payton Corley will be at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, for the 12th Annual High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship June 30 through July 3.
Lowe and Corley, both students at J.Z. George High School in North Carrollton, earned their spot at nationals by placing first at the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s state tournament on March 20-21. The state tournament was held at Pickwick Lake at J.P. Coleman State Park in Iuka.
This was the first-ever state bass fishing tournament held by the MHSAA.
Lowe, 17, and Corley, 12, finished the one-day event with a total catch of 16 pounds, 7 ounces. Lowe is going to be a junior at the high school in the fall, and Corley is in the eighth grade at the junior high.
Steve Goss, who is Lowe’s father and Corley’s stepfather, serves as their coach and will be driving them to South Carolina Saturday. Goss said there are 16 family members and friends going on the trip.
“I guess they (Lowe and Corley) are as ready as they can be,” said Goss. “The waters at the lake are 200 feet deep and very clear. We don’t fish anything like that in the state. We’ve been studying maps and contours, and we’ve been checking out blogs from other people.
“After the first two days of competition, there will be a cut to the top 20 or so teams. I think they are expecting close to 350 boats.”
Lowe and Corley qualified for nationals because the MHSAA state tournament was sanctioned by the Student Angler Federation. Because they are fishing in one, they are also competing in the World Finals.
